


As Long as There's Light: Damerey Drabbles

by Draco_sollicitus



Series: Damerey Tumblr Collection [7]
Category: Star Wars - All Media Types, Star Wars Sequel Trilogy
Genre: All ficlets have one thing in common:, Angst, DameRey, F/M, Ficlet Collection, Fluff, Modern AU, Party Games, Poe Dameron is a Human Disaster, Post Break Up, Tumblr Prompts, each chapter is a different ficlet, flangst
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2018-07-07
Updated: 2018-07-09
Packaged: 2019-06-06 22:36:33
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 4
Words: 6,205
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/15204956
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Draco_sollicitus/pseuds/Draco_sollicitus
Summary: AUs, flangst, fluff, and angst galore: A collection of drabbles, ficlets, and shorter one-shots surrounding our favorite Jedi and Pilot.First Up: Poe Dameron Accidentally Wins Seven Minutes in A'philiar with a Certain Jedi (which should really be the best day ever for him, but stars, she looks really mad)





	1. Seven Minutes in A'philiar

**Author's Note:**

> I have so many ficlets/drabbles on my tumblr and I wanted to transfer some of them to the archive! 
> 
> I'll probably create a second, smuttier collection for the NSFW prompt fills.
> 
> The first 'ficlet' in this collection is a scene where Poe Dameron, who has a massive crush on the Resistance's Jedi, ends up playing a game of Seven Minutes in A'philiar (I made that name up because I couldn't find a reliable name for Heaven in SW lore), where he's just embarrassed/generally nervous the whole time and pisses Rey off.

Poe had found himself locked in a utility closet…

With the last Jedi. Who was currently steaming mad at him.

“C’mon, Dameron, you could at least act like the very idea doesn’t repulse you.” In the dim emergency lighting, he could see her perched on a crate that used to house koyo melons. He tried to focus on that little detail, and not the way her foot was swinging back and forth like the tail of an angry Loth-cat, or the way her hair was out of its usual three-bun style, cascading in chestnut waves around her slender shoulders.  _Distract yourself, Dameron, don’t think about - that thing you don’t think about._

“I didn’t say the idea was repulsive,” Poe protested. Rey snorted and kicked her foot against the crate with a resounding, irritated  _thwack._ Her arms crossed in front of her chest, and Poe heaved a sigh, tapping his chronometer to check the time.

“There’s four and a half minutes left,” Rey snapped. “In case you were considering chewing your leg off to get away from me.” Gods, she was right. They did have four and a half minutes left - four minutes, 36 seconds, to be exact. He could do this. 

He didn’t know whose bright idea it was to play Seven Minutes in A’philiar, but he was going to make them pay (It was probably Jess. Jess always suggested Seven Minutes in A’philiar). And he’d be checking those dice, too. Poe was eight-five percent certain they were loaded. 

“Some party,” Rey muttered, resting her head against the durasteel hull behind her. “Are they all this disappointing?”

“This was your first party?” Poe asked before wincing. Gods, he was ruining her first party. No one wanted to be trapped in a closet with a man twelve years older than them, while their friends chanted  _kiss kiss kiss KISS KISS_ outside the door, at their first party.

“Not really a room for a lot of revelry on Jakku,” Rey commented dryly, pretending to examine her nails. “Shocking, I know.” 

“Ah.” Four minutes left. He could do this. 

Rey sniffed. He turned away from the door which he’d been staring at impatiently and looked at Rey through the low light. Was she allergic to something?

She sniffed again.

Oh Kriff. She was crying. All his disaster-aversion training, and he had absolutely nothing for “beautiful and unattainable woman starts crying after being locked in closet with you during bizarre and honestly problematic party game.”

“Rey,” Poe fought back  _sweetheart. “_ Are you okay?”

She wiped her eyes and turned away from him slightly. “No.”

“No?” Poe started forward before catching himself. They had limited personal space in here - honestly, probably conducive to Seven Minutes in A’philiar - and he didn’t want to infringe on hers. “Do you want me to get them to open the door? Because even if we’re off hours, they technically have to obey any formal order I give them as their commander.”

“No.” Rey shook her head and continued to stare at the back of the closet like it was the most fascinating thing she’d ever seen. “That’s not what I want.”

“What do you want, then?” Poe asked, rubbing the back of his neck. 

“I want you to tell me why the idea of kissing me makes you so aggravated.”

Uh. “I’m not aggravated.”

Rey snorted. “Yeah right, your entire Force signature is aggravated. It’s all - spiky.” Good to know. Poe mentally made a reminder to never lie to Rey; built in detector. “So, why? Don’t trust the desert rat? Embarrassed that anyone might think you kissed her?”

 _What?_ That’s - “Rey, I don’t think about you like that,” Poe said, aghast. “You aren’t a desert rat, please don’t think that way about yourself. And - and of  _course_ I wouldn’t be embarrassed, I’d be–” Elated. Over the moons. Ecstatic. Thrilled.

“You’d be what?” Rey hopped down from her crate and walked over to him, stopping about a foot away. “Horrified? Disgusted?”

“No.” Poe dragged his fingers through his hair and squeezed his eyes shut, willing the universe to wake him up from this nightmare. He opened his eyes. Still in the closet. With Rey. Who, upon closer inspection, looked hurt. Gods, he kriffed this up. “No, Rey, that’s not why I’m upset.”

“Why are you upset then?” 

Two and a half minutes left.

“Because.” Poe dragged his hands through his hair again, curls beyond salvageable now. Rey watched his movement; her eyes took a moment to resettle on his face. Her pretty, hazel eyes. He wished it were lighter in here, so he could see them better. Sighing, he let it out. “For months, Rey, all I’ve wanted to do is kiss you.” 

She stiffened in surprise, and he saw her mouth pop open. Gods, that was cute. Distracting, not helpful, but cute. 

“I’ve wanted to pull you aside and kiss you every kriffing day - in the hangar, in the mess, in the rec. It’s getting worse. Do you know how hard it was not to drag you out of your X-Wing last week after you barely got out of that dogfight? I wanted to kiss you right then and there, in front of the entire Resistance, just grab you and press you up against your ship and kiss you until you couldn’t think straight, kiss you until you agreed to never pull a stupid stunt like that again.”

Rey was uncharacteristically speechless, so he plowed forward. “And of course my crew knows. They know I’m wild about you - but unlike me, they won’t admit how inappropriate it is - and they probably arranged this, loaded the dice, so you’d be stuck in here with me, so I’m sorry. I’m so kriffing sorry that you got roped into their nonsense. Because this is your first party, and you should be spending it out there, with people your own age, people who aren’t 32 year old pilots with a bad temper and a lot of baggage and no chance in the nine hells to ever deserve you. So yeah, please don’t think that I don’t want to kiss you. Because I do. I really kriffing do, but I also know how not-okay it is to kiss you in a closet, where you’d feel forced or obligated to because of some stupid party game and-”

“Poe,” Rey cut in finally. “Gods, Poe. Finn loaded the dice.”

“What?” Poe blinked in surprise. 

“Finn knows that I’ve had a crush on you since,” She blew air out of her pert mouth, nose wrinkled in consideration. “Crait? That sounds about right. So he said he would ‘take care of it,’ and I begged him not to, but here we are. Of course I want you to kiss me. Nothing you’ve said or have apparently worried about changes that.”

His chronometer beeped.

“We have a minute left,” Poe said, checking the time. He lifted his eyes to Rey’s face, and startled when he noticed how much closer she was. 

“Then you better just shut up and kiss me already, flyboy,” Rey said, her hand pulling at the front of his jacket. He grinned at her and wrapped his arms around her small waist, tugging her close up to his body. Their lips found each other in the dark, and Poe’s eyes drifted shut in pleasure as he felt her mouth, warm and soft against his own, so much better than his dreams of this. One of her hands tangled in the back of his hair, the other remained in his shirt, holding him close (not that he needed any help).

They took a second to breathe before diving back in, their noses bumping against each other - “Sorry, sorry,” Poe laughed, “Big nose, I know,” to which Rey murmured, “That’s my favorite nose you’re talking trash about,” and okay, yeah, Poe was utterly karked - before he tilted his head to the side for the perfect angle to gently nip at Rey’s bottom lip. She opened her mouth with a sigh, and he took the opportunity to slip his tongue in, just enough to run along the sensitive inside of her lip. She shivered, he smirked - but then, she did the exact same thing to him, which caused him to moan obscenely, his hips jerking forward of their own accord. He mumbled another apology, which she swatted away.

He stumbled backward until his back hit the door, more than a little guided by Rey’s insisted hands, and she broke the kiss to dot kisses along his jaw. Her clever, hot mouth had just found the spot under his ear that would officially make him lose his mind when -

_Bang bang bang._

“You decent?” Finn hollered through the door. “Time’s up.”

“Go away!” Poe shouted, leaning in to capture Rey’s smiling lips one more time, quickly. “Seven more minutes, Finn.”

“Not my fault you wasted five of them talking!” He said gleefully. Poe grumbled but refused to lift his hands from Rey’s waist, holding her tighter, possessively. He  _just_ got her, he wasn’t about to let go, not -

“Poe,” Rey whispered. “Poe, we can just - leave the party and go to your room. We don’t have to stay here. We’re…adults.”

“Oh, shit!” Poe blinked at her and then kissed her cheek quickly. “Thank the gods you’re smarter than me.” Clasping her hand in his, he pushed off from the wall and threw the door open. 

Cheers from Black Squadron, Finn, and Rose, filled the room, and Poe flicked each and every one of them off as he tugged Rey towards the door.

“Leaving so soon, Commander?” Snap teased, his arm slung around his wife’s shoulders, a cup of hull stripper in his hand.

“Yep,” Poe wrapped his arm around Rey’s waist while keying open the door. She was giggling, her cheeks pink with pleasure and/or embarrassment, and she buried her face half-heartedly in Poe’s shoulder; he couldn’t resist, kissed the top of her head, and nuzzled his nose into her hair, which caused a collective “awww” from their audience. The doors hissed open, and Poe led Rey out. 

“Morning drill is cancelled!” He thought to shout behind him before the doors closed, the coos of their friends becoming a cheer.

“Generous,” Rey said, as they walked quickly down the hall to his room. “Do you intend to have a late night?”

“I’m not going to stop kissing you until the suns come up,” Poe admitted. He looked over at Rey, pleased to see that her blush matched the one he felt on his face. “If that’s alright with you, of course.”

“More than,” Rey said cheerfully before breaking into a jog. “Race you there, Commander.” He shouted with laughter and chased Rey down the corridor to his rooms.

She won.


	2. Do You Regret It

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The last person Rey Kenobi wants to see just walked into Ben Solo's party. She should really listen to Finn's advice and not talk to him.
> 
> But there are questions she still needs to ask.
> 
> Tumblr Prompt(s): "Do you regret it" and "I still remember the way you taste"

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> You might not like Poe Dameron in this one!
> 
> Modern AU: Musician!Poe - Post Break-Up
> 
> Warnings: heavy on angst; reference to past sexual relationship, references to drinking/drugs  
> Warning: Reference to canon character death

“Don’t talk to him, peanut.” Rey set her Solo cup down and glared at her best friend. Finn gave her an almost apologetic smile and held his hands up defensively. “It’s been what, three months since you’ve talked to him? And the last time didn’t go very well.”

Ah yes. The infamous “Rey Kenobi Dances on a Table and then Cries in a Waffle House” debacle of ‘18. Who could forget?

“I’m not going to talk to him,” Rey said, examining her green nail polish. “I don’t have anything to say to him.”

That was a lie. She had plenty of things to say to him. But she didn’t  _want_ to say all the things she had stored up inside of herself, not to his face. No, those things, those hurts, were best reserved for the safety of her shower, her ranting angrily into the falling water, arguing with an invisible person who wasn’t there. Those were the best kinds of arguments, the kinds you could control. 

Rose Tico sidled up next to them and slipped her arm through Finn’s. “Poe Dameron’s here!” She said excitedly. “Can you believe -” She cut herself off, catching a glimpse of Finn’s face as he shook her head desperately at her. “Oh- I’m - sorry?”

“Don’t be,” Rey assured her, smiling at their newest addition to the friend group. Rose started dating Finn four months ago, six months after – 

There was no reason for her to know, after all.

“It is exciting that he’s here. Good for the town.” Rey frowned out the back door of the Organa-Solo house. Leia and Han were at their summer home, and Ben threw world-famous parties in the basement in their absence (and no one commented on the fact that a thirty year old man was still throwing ragers in his parents’ basement, if only because Han Solo was the coolest person of all time and could still do a keg stand, and who wouldn’t want to live with Leia Organa?).

“He won two Grammys, right?” Rey’s attention was broken by Rose’s innocent question.

Rey liked Rose, and she really had no problem with Poe being here, but she couldn’t talk about him so casually. Not yet. Maybe not ever. “Three,” Rey said simply. “If you’ll excuse me.”

She pushed past Rose and Finn and walked outside. It was an oddly cool summer’s night, and Rey sighed with relief, finally away from the noise and chaos of the party inside. The backyard was spacious, with plenty of trees to get lost in - up ahead was a swingset that she used to play on with Ben (alright, so he pushed her on the swings begrudgingly; it was hard to find common ground when you were eight and your guardian’s godson was thirteen). Rey sat down on the left swing and kicked her heels off. She pushed off and pumped her legs in and out, soothing and familiar in its rhythm. 

Rey tilted her head back and regarded the stars, her favorite pastime of childhood, bridging into adulthood. She closed her eyes and continued to swing, letting her head fall forward, her hair tumbling around her shoulders and in front of her face, both ignoring and leaning into the empty, horrible cavern in her chest, threatening to swallow her whole, the rip in herself that had been there for ten and a half months, ever since -

“I thought you’d be out here.” 

Perfect.

“I thought you’d stay in there,” Rey said, not opening her eyes. She adjusted her grip on the rope of her swing and continued to kick her feet lazily. He had the audacity to laugh. Bastard. 

She didn’t look at him, but she heard him walk through the grass and settle on the swing next to her, at her right. “Let me try again. Hey.”

Rey snorted and ignored him for a moment, still swinging.

“How’ve you been?” 

Rey stalled herself, dragging her feet along the ground until she came to a stop. She tossed her hair out of her face angrily (and he used to say  _it’s like you’re shaking your mane out, look at you, wild thing, God, you’re perfect,_ and while saying those things, he’d kiss her forehead and temple and cheek and jaw and lips and - ) and looked at him at last. 

“Really?” Rey said. She didn’t know what her face looked like, but whatever he saw, Poe was inspired to look down at his feet. “That’s your opener?  _How’ve you been?”_ She scoffed and scraped her fingernail along the painted plywood of her seat. “Two bets on how I’ve been, Dameron. I don’t need to ask how you’ve been, though. I can open any teen magazine and find out.”

“That shit isn’t real, Rey.” Poe sounded so tired, and for a moment, she felt bad that she’d lost her temper. For a moment. “That isn’t me.”

“So you aren’t dating Jennifer Lawrence?” Rey said, trying to sound bored, but really sounding furious. “You didn’t break up Brie Larson’s engagement? Weren’t spotted canoodling with an Instagram star in SoHo?”

“Stop it,” Poe whispered. “Please, Rey.”

Rey stood and walked away from the swings, but she made it ten feet before she spun around to face him. There was no excuse for her yelling at him. She wasn’t drunk, wasn’t even tipsy. She was just hurt, and with the childhood she’d had, before Uncle Ben came to get her - it had taught her to hurt others before they could see how badly they’ve hurt you.

“Do you regret it?” She demanded. Poe looked at her, the only light in the backyard from the moon and the distant porchlight behind her. A shadow fell across his face, carving his handsome features in half. Maybe that’s why he looked so - “Do you ever regret leaving town? Leaving  _me_?” Her voice cracked on the last word, and she hated herself for it, hated herself even more than she hated him.

Poe cleared his throat, and even in the darkness, Rey could see how his knuckles were white, from where he clutched at the wood of his swing. His broad shoulders - even broader now, probably because he had a nutritionist and a personal trainer and whatever fuckall they set up for you when you went on tour with a platinum album - spilled over the boundaries of the ropes, his muscular thighs a little too wide for the seat. Poe stared at her, his gaze boundless and broken, and Rey felt whatever was left inside of her, whatever strength she still had, crumble. 

“Forget it,” she said. She forced herself to smile at him. “Forget I said anything, Dameron. Enjoy the party.” Rey turned around and wrapped her arms around her middle and walked inside, face burning with humiliation. She should have listened to Finn’s advice, should have walked away the moment he sat down, she should have - 

“The second I walked away from you, I knew.” 

Rey didn’t turn around, but she did stop walking. Poe’s voice was coming from behind her, but it sounded closer, like he’d gotten up out of the swing. He didn’t continue, so Rey coughed slightly, refusing to wipe at the tears forming in her eyes. “Knew what?”

“That I’d made the biggest mistake of my life.” Rey squeezed her eyes shut against it, a single tear falling and cutting down her cheek. He didn’t need prompting to continue this time. “I walked away from you, and it was like a physical pain. I was stupid, and I hated myself the second I suggested we end things. Because why the fuck would I end things with you? I gave myself a lot of reasons, but they didn’t make sense the second I walked away from you. Because why  _did_ I leave? To make your life easier, so you didn’t have to wait around on me while I toured? To make my own life more convenient? Because let me tell you, Rey, listening to every voicemail I have saved of yours, over and over again, just so I can fucking sleep at night, it’s not convenient. It’s not fucking convenient, or healthy.” 

Rey stood stiller than a statue, the only movement in her body coming from her jaw, which trembled horribly in an attempt to keep the sob building in her chest from leaking out. She refused to open her eyes. She refused to look at him. She refused to believe him. 

“I still remember what you taste like.” Rey’s entire body burned from that confession, and her breath caught in her throat, perhaps forever. “Still remember how your lips feel on mine, how your hands felt in my hair, how much better my name sounded when you were the one saying it. I dream about you every night, and the bed’s cold next to me when I wake up, and I have to live with the knowledge, all over again, that I was the one who walked away, that I’m the one who hurt you.”

“So,  _do I regret it_?” Poe laughed, a harsh sound, and he was closer than before, clearly walking towards her as he spoke. “I fucking regret it more than I’ve regretted anything in my entire life. For my birthday this year, the record label set up some shitty party in LA, with all these fucking people I didn’t care about, and booze and drugs and all the fucking cliche shit we used to make fun of when we’d sing together. And I sat in a bathroom stall and cried for half an hour, listening to the birthday message you left me when I turned thirty, listening to the message you left me eleven months ago where you were at the store, trying to figure out the difference between two percent and one percent milk. On that one, you say, ‘ _fuck it, Dameron, if I can’t read your handwriting, I’m just getting whole milk.’_ That’s one of my favorite ones to listen to, by the way, because you sound angry with me, but you also sound like you still love me, and that was the only way I could live with myself, was by imagining this stupid, alternate world where I hadn’t fucked up too badly, and you’d taken me back an hour after I drove away, and you were mad at me, but you still fucking loved me.”

Rey lifted her hand to her mouth and chewed on her thumbnail, trying to refocus her attention anywhere besides the gut-wrenching confession behind her; the one she’d begged the universe for each night; the one she was realizing she didn’t really want to hear. 

“I got your last call when I was on the first leg of the tour,” Poe said then, and Rey’s entire body locked in terror.  _So he did want to talk about it. “_ What was that, three months ago?”

Rey nodded, still frozen. She stared at the back of the house, praying for Finn to sense her distress and come get her out of this. Rey could just walk away, she knew that, Poe would never stop her or try to keep her if she didn’t want to talk to him, but she was frozen, she didn’t want to talk about this, not right now, not -

“You sounded so upset,” Poe whispered. “But you said you loved me. You said you  _needed_ me. And I thought, ‘thank Christ, I’m not the only one.’ So I tried calling you back. I tried to call you, ten times a day, for a week straight. And then it said the number had been disconnected.”

“I broke my phone,” Rey muttered. “Dropped it into a pond.”  _At the cemetery. Don’t go there. Don’t go there, Kenobi._

“Oh.” Poe laughed, and she did too, albeit a little shakily. He sounded closer than ever. He must have been less than three feet away from her now.  _Run. Run now before he -_ “Oh, that sounds about right.” If he were anyone but Poe Dameron, she would have slugged them, but he sounded so damn fond, she forgot to be angry. “I almost got a plane and came here, but I figured you didn’t want to see me.”

“I did,” Rey admitted. The tears were forming more quickly than she cared to admit now. “I needed you, Poe, and you weren’t here -”

“I’m sorry,” he was right behind her. “I’m so fucking sorry, baby, please look at me - why didn’t you pick up the phone? Even if I didn’t - even if - God, Rey, you’re so fucking important to me, I woulda come back for you, in any context, at any time -”

But she was proud, and they both knew that. She was proud, and she didn’t call him back because - 

“He died.” Rey folded in on herself more, and Poe’s breath staggered behind her. 

“What?”

“Uncle Ben.” Rey turned around to look at him finally; her hips turning so she nearly faced him, tears pouring down her face readily now, no stopping them, no hiding this grief, this three month old, still fresh grief. Poe was staring at her, tears drying on his own face, new ones building in his large brown eyes, and Rey’s voice shattered when she spoke next. “Ben died, and I was trying to call you to see if you wanted to come home for the funeral, but I was drunk, and I just ended up -” she sobbed, uncontrollably, her hand covering her mouth. Poe reached out for her and then thought better of it, and the fact that he’d think she wouldn’t want him to hold her, that she was so far done with him that she’d reject it - it was too much.

“I needed you.” She faced him fully, fists clenched at her sides. “I needed you, Poe, and you were gone. And I don’t know what would have happened if you’d picked up that night, or if I’d picked up when you called back but-”

“I would have been here,” Poe said fiercely. “Fuck, Rey, I had no idea, none, I didn’t know Ben was - that you were alone-”

“Alone.” Rey sniffed and laughed angrily. “I felt alone when I called you, yeah. But I wasn’t really alone. I had Finn, and then Rose. And Ben Solo’s been really nice.” It was a low blow, and Rey knew it, could see his shoulders stiffening for a moment before they released. Poe was too good of a person to begrudge her happiness if she did end up dating Ben Solo (which everyone thought was a good idea). Ben had been interested in her for years, Rey knew that. Poe knew that. But he wouldn’t hold it against her. He was too kind, and he’d left her, after all. Poe was probably too decent to even ask if she was with Ben now (she wasn’t, would never be).

“I’m glad you weren’t alone,” Poe said after a moment. He was less than six inches away from her, and he looked taller than she’d remembered. He was tanner, his teeth whiter, his clothes nicer. Like a Malibu Ken version of the man she loved.

She hated it. 

“Don’t be glad,” Rey said venomously. “Don’t fucking stand there and tell me you were glad other people were there for me after my  _father_ died, Poe.”

“Okay.” Poe’s eyes burned into hers. “So. What should I tell you, then?”

_Tell me you still love me. Tell me you’re sorry. Tell me that I’m good enough to stick around for._

“Tell me not to walk away.” Rey stared at him boldly, and Poe’s expression wavered for a moment, something almost grieved taking over, and he reached out at last, and pulled her into his arms. 

“Don’t walk away,” Poe said brokenly into her shoulder, begging her in the way she’d been too proud to beg ten months ago. “Please, Sunshine. Please stay, let me fix this, let me prove to you how much I love you.” He kissed her shoulder over the thin shirt she wore and held her tight to his body. Rey wrapped her arms around him and closed her eyes, burying herself in his neck and re-familiarizing herself with the smell of mahogany and chocolate and home. 

“Okay,” Rey whispered. His hands tightened on her back in response. “Okay, I’ll stay.” 

“I love you, and I’m sorry,” Poe said, dragging his hands between her shoulder blades, tangling one in her hair. “I love you.”

A year ago, she would have said _I know,_ and kissed him on the nose cheerfully and then accepted his equally happy kiss on the lips. But Rey Kenobi’s heart had been broken and re-formed and neglected too much in the last year, so her response was worlds different, and had Poe Dameron crying into her shoulder. 

“I want to believe you.” 

She’d try to believe him.

It was a start.


	3. Wanna Make a Baby?

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The war has ended, and it's time for Poe Dameron to start a new chapter of his life.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Based on the tumblr prompt "Do you wanna make a baby?"  
> This is categorically "flangst" i.e. fluff with angst present.

Poe Dameron was tired of fighting.

The war had limped to an undazzling conclusion, as all wars did. Kylo Ren had defected over a year ago, leaving the First Order headless but no less bloodthirsty - the Resistance had at last secured support from wealthy Core Worlds, and had successfully fought the two separate factions that had sprung up, greatly assisted by the newly re-built Jedi Order, comprised of Finn, Ben, and Rey.

Rey. Poe leaned his head against the outside of the old Imp base here on Endor, in this abandoned part of the woods he’d gone to for some peace and quiet, and closed his eyes.  _Rey._ The war had separated them more than it had allowed them to be together for over six months. He missed his wife. It felt like grabbing onto the worse end of a vibroblade most days when he woke up with the bed next to him cold, her smile absent from breakfast, her laughter gone from the training room, the seat next to his vacant at strategy meetings. 

He’d seen her in passing when General Hux - and he had been too tired to even call him Hugs or make a joke when he’d walked by - and Pordak Ren, a former Knight, had come to negotiate surrender with the generals. Poe was still helping with clean-up and hadn’t attended the treaty formation, but Rey had spotted him in the crowd while she accompanied their ‘guests,’ and her lovely face had lit up briefly in a tired but genuine smile before her expression settled back into a formidable stoicism, suitable for a general and a Jedi Master.

Gods, he missed her. This whole kriffing war was hopefully coming to an end - but Poe knew all too well how these things staggered to a halt. It had been staggering for a while, but the coming months were sure to be marked by skirmishes and clean-up battles, and who knew when he’d -

“I could hear you thinking from five floors below, Colonel Dameron.”

He didn’t open his eyes, but he smiled, tears already burning at the back of his throat. Sure enough, his voice was hoarse when he spoke. “Really? And what did you hear, General Dameron?”

“Nothing I haven’t thought myself in the recent past.” He sensed her lean against the wall next to him, her arm maybe within three inches from his own, her warm presence undeniable and fulfilling; his body leaned into it like a heliotropic plant back on Yavin. 

She heard him waxing poetic, of course. “Yavin?” There was a strange note of nostalgia in her voice for someone who’d never been. “I’d like to go to Yavin.”

“Yeah?” Poe laughed wearily, and she stepped in until they were shoulder to shoulder. The inside of his eyelids were stained red as he tilted his face up into the weak sunlight with his eyes still closed. “I’ll take you there when this is all over.”  _Build you a home, like we always talked about._

“You are my home,” Rey said simply. “And the war  _is_ over.”

“You can’t know that.” Poe tried his hardest not to sound bitter, but all he’d known since the age of 22 was fighting, death, cacophony - war. Was there ever really going to be an end? “There’s no way to be sure that it’s over.”

“I’m sure.” He felt her shrug. Then, she nudged his arm and coughed. “Do you want to make a baby, Colonel?”

Poe twisted to look at her, eyes opening at last. Rey was looking at him with nothing short of serenity in her hazel eyes. 

 _I can’t bring a child into a war,_ she told him two years ago on their wedding night. He’d hated it, but he’d understood it - hells, he agreed with it.  _When this is all over, we can try. I want to have your child Poe, I just - not when it’s like this. Not when I don’t know what’s going to happen._ He had cried, and agreed, and held her, and made love to her while part of his heart broke for the things they couldn’t have, the things he couldn’t give her, but here she was, saying - offering -

Poe’s mind reeled in disbelief, but then Rey held up her right arm. There was a bandage on her forearm, right above her elbow, where her implant was, where her implant  _had_ been, and Poe’s eyes widened while he took it in. Something in him settled, deep, permanent.

“You really think it’s over then?” He asked, dumbfounded. Poe turned his body so he stood directly in front of his wife; he grabbed her arm and inspected it, crowding her against the wall. Rey laughed and nodded, and Poe stared at her in wonder before kissing her, one hand in her hair, the other at her slender waist. Her hands wrapped around his neck, and she sighed into the kiss, leaning into it to eliminate the space between them while she murmured his name - he couldn’t tell if it was aloud or not. 

He broke the kiss to grab the back of her thighs and lifted her, her legs wrapping around his waist on instinct, and he pressed her against the wall again, kissing her with renewed passion, moving on to nuzzle into the soft spot under her jaw, kissing the spots that made her moan and arch into his touch. His blood sang, his spirit mingled with his wife’s in the Force - the war was over, and they could have this, they could have a family, they could have every-

Rey was laughing.

“I didn’t mean right this second! _Poe_!”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> oh, the return of dad!poe


	4. I'm Not Going Anywhere

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Rey's nervous about her inability to swim, but luckily the best pilot in the Resistance is there to help her.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Pre-relationship Damerey Fluff

Rey had never seen a body of water this large. The lake seemed to stretch on infinitely; if she’d been amazed at the green of Takodana, she was overwhelmed by the blue of Naboo. 

Still, she refused to let fear get the better of her, so she stood, toes wiggling in the surf, as the waves rolled in from the middle of the massive lake. “You coming?” Rose called from a hundred yards out. Finn splashed her then, and Rey could hear her friends shrieking with laughter all the way from shore.

“Sure!” Rey said, hoping that her wariness didn’t translate. She took a step, and then another step - she breathed in through her nose, out through her mouth, trying to shove her anxiety down. 

“Hey.” Rey’s breathing quickened for another reason, and she imagined herself to be made of steel when she turned to look at the person who’d appeared on her left. 

Poe Dameron was unfairly pretty when fully dressed; and, Rey had never felt so woefully inadequate as she did now, catching an eyeful of the commander in swimming trunks so short they ought to be illegal, his skin tanned to the point of being golden, his curls tossed luxuriously out of his handsome face. 

“Hi,” Rey said, wrapping her arms around her middle, suddenly wishing she was wearing more than her breast band and a pair of shorts. Poe smiled at her kindly.

“Don’t know how to swim?” He asked, his eyes flickering out to where Rose and Finn had been joined by Iolo and Jess. Rey shook her head and stared down at the water, around where her toes should be. 

“I’ll just wait here,” she said, mortified. “Don’t worry about me.” Poe huffed and took a step out past her before turning to face her, raising his arm towards her. He splashed backwards another few steps, his hand outstretched. 

“C’mon, Sunshine,” he said, smiling in that knowing way of his. “I got you.” Rey bit her lip, debating the pros and cons for a moment, but Poe Dameron’s plucky flyboy smile got the best of her, as always. Rey rolled her eyes, took his hand, and walked forward into the water with him. 

“I won’t let you go,” he promised, walking at her side while the water deepened. The waves now crested at her hip, and Rey swallowed the ball of fear in her throat. She nodded at him, unable to speak. “It’s going to get deeper in a second, so don’t worry.” Sure enough, the waves now hit her chest, and Rey gulped for air when her foot missed the next step. Her body became oddly buoyant, and she yelped when her other foot spasmed - now both feet were off the sandy bottom of the lake. 

Poe laughed approvingly. “You’re sort of getting it! But here, you’re making me nervous.” He splashed out in front of her. “Do you trust me?” 

“Yes,” Rey squeaked. Even if she wasn’t half afraid of drowning, she’d mean it. She did trust Poe, she had since the moment they met. He pulled her close to his body, gripping her by the arms. 

“Kick your legs out behind you,” he instructed. 

“Don’t let go,” Rey begged, her voice a half-whisper. Poe’s grip tightened in response, and Rey followed his instructions. Her feet splashed around uselessly for a second before they seemed to catch some intangible support, and her body leveled out. “Oh!” She gasped in surprise, and then laughed. While laughing, she caught some water in her mouth and sputtered.

“Easy, easy,” Poe said, smiling at her. He took another step backward, and Rey yelped in terror.

“Don’t let me go!” She repeated, louder than before.  _Don’t leave me, come back, please don’t leave me here to -_

Poe’s smile was oddly serious when she caught his eye, her legs still kicking behind her. “I promise I won’t,” he murmured, continuing to pull her in. “I’m not going anywhere, sweetheart.”

**Author's Note:**

> thank you for reading, and feel free to request ficlets/drabbles on my [tumblr](https://dracosollicitus.tumblr.com/ask) (right now I have a queue for longer fics, about eight of them that are WIP, so it'll have to be shorter fics for now)


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